I am continuing with the daily affirmations provided by Frank Viola. You can find a link to the entire list in my last post. Here is the second affirmation: “Ruthlessly eliminate all expectations of how your day should be.”
This one is a bit different from the first. The first affirmation starts with the more expansive idea of the way we think life ought to be and narrows the focus to finding joy in the present. The second affirmation concentrates exclusively on today. In considering this one I have a few thoughts.
We need calendars, schedules and “to do” lists. It is good to be organized and use time purposefully. What we don’t need are expectations, which bind us to our own will. Furthermore, if we have had any experience in dealing with our Lord, we will have noticed that our expectations are shabby in comparison to His will.
Expectations separate us from God. They create friction between His heart and our soul. They can lead to frustration, disappointment and resentment. In this way they give God’s enemy a chance to gain ground in us. It’s better to keep a light grip on our plans for the day. When we encounter interruptions, minor and major, we can step back momentarily and see God at work. We can decide, then, how we would like to respond. Will we yield to God’s plan? Or insist on our pre-defined course, our routine, our expectation?
I know of a faithful follower of Jesus Christ who was a coal miner in Ohio. As a worker he was conscientious and eventually became a crew leader. But his devotion to God was greater than his commitment to his job. He would pray every morning, seeking whether it was the Lord’s will for him to go to work. One day, God answered his prayer in the negative. That day he remained at home to the astonishment of his wife, an unbeliever. Unable to give her a reason for his decision, he simply said that he could not go. During the day the mine’s siren sounded, alerting the townspeople that an accident had occurred. The part of the mine in which his crew was working had collapsed and killed them all.
Here are the words of Jesus to Peter: “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). Jesus, in using the term “old,” was referring to spiritual maturity—transformation—rather than age. The idea of stretching out one’s arms is antithetical to the soul-driven Christian. That, however, was the posture that Jesus himself accepted when he was nailed to the cross. He was the Lamb of God who was willing to be led to the slaughter by lawless men (Acts 2:23).
“… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” the apostle Paul said, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). Working out our own salvation has to do with our willingness to participate in our own transformation—yielding to God, dealing with God and receiving His dealings. It is God who does the work. As Watchman Nee tells us, in Sit, Walk, Stand, “God is working it in; work it out!”
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